Sunday, 1 August 2010

Mine was characterised by several recurringbut contrasting themes: 1. Eating al fresco [aka dodging the rain clouds and grabbing a bite to eat outdoors while you can in unreliable English summertime] and ...2. Christmas crafting.

1. While it may not have been from a fancy restaurant, and we may have sat around a graffittied metal picnic table in a children's playground while we ate it ... this Lamb kebab and Chana Masala freshly made and eaten at an Asian festival in the park was one of the best meals of the month:

It was so good in fact, that it actually brought tears to my eyes ... no, hang on, I think that was possibly more to do with the chillies ... my mistake ...

2. As for Christmas crafting well, all told, during July I made at least 14 different festive items for various magazine features: I just hope that I can muster up some residual festivity for the real thing when the time comes in 146 days ...

So how about some more of the numbers which have characterised my month? ....

1, 2, 3 = the countdown Hannah and I were given [by the rest of our friends] in order to synchronise our experiments with Jan's reclining sofa following a wonderful barbeque on Friday [more al fresco food!] ...

1 ... on the count of three we both pulled the handles at the same time ....2 ... we tried to investigate why my side of the sofa didn't recline quite as far back and why my feet weren't raised quite as high ....3 .... while attempting to sit back upright Hannah was suddenly and unceremoniously flipped into a third and even more laid back position ... and quite frankly I couldn't take any more excitement!So there you go Jan, now you know what we got up to in your room while you went down to make us all a cup of tea!

11 = the number of slugs James collected from the garden one night last week, [after we'd shared a bottle of wine] in a vain attempt to protect his plants: On the other hand ... I was more concerned that the neighbours might have seen him. Midnight. Tiny garden lit up like a stage. The leading man hunched over, scanning the ground ... wearing tight gloves.

I was tempted to turn out the light and lock the doors behind him ... ;)

£5.00 = how much we paid for this collectors tray at the fantastic antique and collector's fair we went to at Swinderby:It's got such a wonderful rich patina and appears quite old so we couldn't quite believe it when the stall owner, who'd spotted us looking at it, shouted the price over to us . We shared one of those glances which says "We both know we'll never find another one this cheap don't we? And if that's what the man wants ... then who are we not to give it to him....".

Then we bought it.

I've recently spotted a 7Gyspsies shadow box almost exactly the same and I'm delighted to have found a more personal one-off of my very own. I'll let you know when it's found a suitable place on the wall and is filled with tiny treasures.

£1.00 = the price I paid for one of the first of those tiny treasures to have assumed its place:While possibly not such a bargain as the box itself, I could not resist him!!! I was charmed by his wistful face and those holes in his shoulders? Why, they're just crying out to have tiny wings sprouting from them, wouldn't you say?

5 = the number of stars held by the lovely hotel we stayed in at Lincoln:

It even had a pool, but this is the only photo I took of it, through the blinds in our bedroom!:

... I think I was a bit shy to be spotted leaning out of the window photographing a pool like I'd never been anywhere nice before! And yes, we did actually go in it. We swam. Outdoors. In England. In a non-heated pool ... and once we could breath again after the initial shock of the cold ... we rather enjoyed ourselves!

7 = the number of minutes of July left on the clock when I finally completed all 650 pages of Hilary Mantel's amazing novel Wolf Hall.

248 +250 = The number of pages respectively in Mary Ann Shaffer + Annie Barrow's novel 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' and Jostein Gaarder's 'The Castle in the Pyrenees' the 2 books I'm now reading for an online bookclub I've just joined, the latter of which was my choice.

If I've felt like I've been in a long term and intimate relationship with Thomas Cromwell these last few months, then I should consider these two brief novels more of a summertime fling!

On which note ... I'll leave the numbers there ... for four weeks at least.

Amongst my close family my number collecting seems to have caught on - when I asked for an second helping of my Dad's homegrown potatoes at Sunday lunch last week he said 'You can have that for your numbers!'. Consider it done Dad!

Now it's over to you ..... I'd love to hear any of your own numbers from July ... maybe:

the number of miles you travelled;

the ice-creams eaten;

the days remaining until your holiday; etc ....

... whatever your statistics involve it'd be great to have you play along with me this time round.

I've added a little 'Linky box' below for you to add one or two ... or three of your own ... if you'd like to join me in a little July number crunching.

Or else just leave me a good old-fashioned comment!

Thanks for reading me today. Your visits are always welcome!

Jx

p.s Am not sure if the Linky box records your name - so you might want to add it in - so I know who you are! :).